CCAR Journal

This issue of the CCAR Journal, published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis, opens with Philip Graubart's essay "Notes from the Narrow Place," which looks back on the period of confinement people endured in recent years. David Zucker contributes scholarly and thoughtful work, and another article, "Sperm Donation and Surrogacy in the Time When the Judges Judged," addresses reproductive questions through a historical lens.

Two historically grounded articles, written separately, examine how communities decide whom to exclude and how accountability, repentance and forgiveness fit into that process. Judith Schindler's "Cancel Culture, Billy Graham, and the Weighing Nearly Forty-Five Years of a Historical Record" is closely researched and draws on the past to ask where boundaries should be drawn. Neil Hirsch, a first-time contributor to the Journal, takes up accountability through two Talmudic stories of ostracism. Both pieces rely on history and sacred text to help readers consider when exclusion is warranted and how people make amends and seek forgiveness.

Savannah Noray offers an updated analysis of the gender wage gap within the Reform Movement. The piece follows up on the fall 2018 CCAR Journal theme issue about the Reform Pay Equity Initiative, showing where that work has produced results and where significant gaps remain. Michael Rosen and David Ellenson trace the growth and maturing of the Reform Movement in Israel, using the new Israeli Reform/Progressive prayer book T'filat HaAdam as their central source.

The issue closes with reflections on the human relationship with God and the longing to feel the divine presence and grace. Adam D. Fisher's "Experiencing God's Care" offers spiritual guidance and encouragement. Paul Menitoff combines scholarship with personal experience to bring the ideas of Spinoza, Kaplan and Buber into a new theology. The final listing is titled "Isaac and Iphigenia."